The Green Heart Project is now well underway. We have sought your ideas in a number or ways, explored the spaces, mapped the routes, interviewed, surveyed and tested and now all of your fantastic ideas have been handed over to the Design Team, and many have had a direct impact on the design for the Green Heart.

Now, sadly, it is time for us to hand over the project to the University Communications team who we have worked hand in hand with us throughout the Creative Consultation project and we know that they will do a smashing job continuing to liaise with you and gathering your feedback.

We want to thank you all for all of your inventive, imaginative, innovative and occasionally bizarre input. We will be very interested to see the final project when complete and in the meantime want to wish the Design Team and all of you the very best of luck.

It is here at last! We know that everyone at the University is either finishing up for Christmas and probably some will have finished! However, we wanted to wish everyone at the University a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year and in the spirit of the Green Heart Project we have found a sweet, yet odd picture of a Holly King to celebrate. We hope everyone has a magical time!

In October our team set up a pop-up stall on campus where we tested some of the concept ideas developed as part of the Green Heart Project. We have now updated the boards used in the Concept Testing Pop Up and loaded the latest visuals available here for you to get a sneak peak of some of the new spaces that the Green Heart will bring.

Click HERE to see the visuals used in the Planning Permission stages in, August 2016 and although these will change in places, there should be enough here to give you a flavour of what is to come.

Help us pave the way to the Green Heart by voting for what goes underfoot. UoB and the Green Heart team have laid ten sample paving options in University Square, to help us choose the best materials for the Green Heart. Let us know your favourite by voting online or, visit our student ambassadors who will be taking votes at the paving from 11:30-14:00 on Monday 5 – Wednesday 7 December 2016.

We asked Chris Churchman, Founder and Director of Churchman Landscape Architects how the information that we have gathered from you has impacted upon their design for the Green Heart.

The recent consultation exercise by Nomad has provided us with valuable insights into the way that you currently use the outdoor spaces and the way that you like to see the Green Heart develop. Fortunately, many of your thoughts are aligned with ours, so there is no need for a fundamental restructuring of the plan. However, there was a different emphasis on certain areas, and this will help us to refine the scheme to achieve a better fit with your aspirations.

The fact that 81% of you enjoy spending time outdoors demonstrates the importance of the project, and with only 6% not wanting to work outside, it does seem that you value the role that green spaces play on campus.

When we started working on the project we felt that it should promote serendipity and this would seem to be echoed by your feedback; University Square is said to be the place where you bump into people.

Many of you cite the historic features and the natural characteristics of the elements that make the Green Heart a special place. We feel that the current design achieves this by opening up the grand axis around Old Joe. We have retained all the major trees, and we will plant much more, 160 in total. The trees have been chosen to attract indigenous fauna including bats, swifts, house sparrows and hedgehogs so that the Green Heart will be a very natural environment at the heart of campus.

There was significant enthusiasm for a scheme that supports performances, events and markets. This chimes with the design which incorporates a variety of spaces and spatial configurations that can be used by staff and students in many ways. The design includes a major amphitheatre for concerts and outdoor cinema, a new café complete with small stage and generous pathways which can accommodate market stalls and displays.

There were mixed and diverse views about the importance of referencing the University’s academic work, although a majority felt it should do so. The design provides the opportunity for the future addition of features that specifically reference current research and technology, and we are really providing a canvas that can be embellished and can evolve with time.

The need for spaces to eat, relax and work was a strong theme which endorses the level of generous seating that we are providing. It is helpful that people have called specifically for more tables, to some extent this is already being provided outside the new library, but we will add more. Some respondents requested covered seating and workspace, a view that we share. This will in part be addressed as part of the new café, but we would like to add more if there is significant support to do so.

There were split views regarding the incorporation of technology; half those asked felt that the space should remain green, relaxing and focused around nature, which probably reflects what has been provided in the current proposals. Some technology focused elements have been added including paving that generates energy when walked on. All of the Green Heart will be wifi enabled, but there are currently no mobile phone charging points. If future consultation indicates there is a stronger desire for the integration of additional technology, then it can still be added without impacting on the overall scheme.

There also seemed to be support for the Green Heart to be informative on a number of levels, about the history of the campus but also about current thinking and trends. Again we believe the proposals provide the opportunity for these elements to be added.

Lastly, we would like to thank everyone who responded and would encourage you to continue to do so, the more people engage with the process, the richer it will become. We feel that the scheme will only become really successful if you take it to your hearts, it is essential that you own it and shape it.